Two weeks can be a long time in football, especially where André Villas-Boas is concerned. This result made it four wins from five for Tottenham, who advance to the knockout stages of this competition having secured a victory in every European match this season. Slowly, they are banishing the memories of that dismal defeat at Manchester City.

Spurs top the group but in the last 32 could face Juventus, Ajax or Villas-Boas's former club Porto, who all dropped out of the Champions League this week. Sunday's game with Liverpool is a more pressing matter, yet a fine hat-trick from Roberto Soldado ensures that Tottenham go into that crucial match with a striker oozing confidence.

Soldado, who had scored only three goals from open play this season before this match, was deadly. The Spaniard opened the scoring in the first half with a deft header before clinically slotting in a second after a precise ball from Erik Lamela, who Villas-Boas insisted would not be allowed to leave on loan this winter.

Ewerton scored from a corner for Anzhi before Soldado added his third from the penalty spot after the young full-back Ryan Fredericks was felled in the area, with Villas-Boas claiming the display would be a "major boost" for the striker.

"It was extremely important for him to get back to scoring," said Villas-Boas. "I'm extremely happy for him. He's been waiting for a moment like this and it finally happened tonight. It will be major boost for a player who has been very professional and deserves respect.

"I don't think he lost his confidence but, as a striker, you have to persist and persist; finishing off the situations you are given and that final touch hasn't been there for him recently. It will be a great boost of confidence for him."

Anzhi, despite having already secured qualification from Group K before this game, are bottom of the Russian Premier League and without a win in 19 matches. Europe has provided Gadzhi Gadzhiev's side with some welcome relief this season after their billionaire owner, Suleyman Kerimov, drastically cut the club's spending in August.

But it has been a miserable domestic campaign for the Russians ever since. Spurs, who made seven changes to the team that won at Sunderland on Saturday, did not wait long to punish their opponents.

After seven minutes Soldado got the faintest of touches with his head to guide Gylfi Sigurdsson's fine, curling cross on to Evgeni Pomazan's left-hand post and in following a free-kick won by Andros Townsend on the left edge of the penalty area.

Less than 10 minutes had passed before Villas-Boas's side had doubled their lead. Lamela, on the right flank, received the ball 30 yards from goal and slipped in Soldado with a precisely-weighted pass. The striker needed just one touch before firing low across the goalkeeper.

Anzhi reduced the lead one minute before the interval, Ewerton prodding in from a Nikita Burmistrov corner, yet there was to be no comeback. Danny Rose, making his first appearance at left-back after a three-month absence, was replaced for the second half by the youngster Fredericks, who provided a fresh impetus.

He played a key role in Tottenham's third, yet it was Lewis Holtby who put the gloss on the move, controlling expertly inside the area after a deft chip from Townsend and steering the ball with remarkable poise into the far corner.

Soldado got his hat-trick when Fredericks was brought down in the area by Jucilei, firing his penalty low into the side netting. Villas-Boas added: "It was difficult conditions for both teams, [already] qualified first and second, so that's what pleased me most: the professionalism and dedication of the players."